explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2867: DateTime

2023-12-14T12:50:07Z

Jh6p: The question really is impossible as stated.

{{comic
| number = 2867
| date = December 13, 2023
| title = DateTime
| image = datetime_2x.png
| imagesize = 679x478px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It's not just time zones and leap seconds. SI seconds on Earth are slower because of relativity, so there are time standards for space stuff (TCB, TGC) that use faster SI seconds than UTC/Unix time. T2 - T1 = [God doesn't know and the Devil isn't telling.]
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a DATETIME SYSTEM BETWEEN T1 AND T2 - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[Ponytail]] asks [[Cueball]] how to calculate the time elapsed between two instants. A Cueball not intimately familiar with the complexities of the way humans measure time naively assumes that this is given by the difference of the timestamps. A Cueball who is familiar panics and states that it is impossible to know, and further that it is forbidden to even ask the question.

Some of these complexities include time zones (and changes to time zones), the international date line, daylight savings time and differing observation (or nonobservation) thereof in different areas (and changes to the observation of daylight savings time over time), leap days and leap seconds, etc. Another complexity is found in relativistic effects, in which the flow of time varies depending on on how deep in a gravity well one is; {{w|Barycentric Coordinate Time}} and {{w|Geocentric Coordinate Time}} (in French, TCB and TCG respectively - the reference to TGC in the title text appears to be a typo) are time systems used for space missions and orbit calculations that handle this. A partial list of such minutia may be found at [https://gist.github.com/timvisee/fcda9bbdff88d45cc9061606b4b923ca Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Time]. The title text of the comic also references some of them.

The statement that "it is impossible to know" is because Ponytail did not provide enough information in the question: She needed to specify the location and time zone of both observations, and possibly the exact values of T1 nd T2 to the nanosecond. The statement "and a sin to ask" is obviously hyperbolic; it's an expression of the fact that determining the answer accurately can be complicated and programming systems that attempt to do this can be frustrating.

"T2 - T1 = [God doesn't know and the Devil isn't telling.]": This is a colloquial expression that riffs on the more common "God only knows", to suggest that the thing in question is even more unknowable that the usual type of unknowable thing, to the point where it may be an evil invention of the Devil designed to cause complexity and frustration for the people having to deal with it.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Ponytail is talking to Cueball.]
:Ponytail: Event #1 happened at time T1.
:Cueball: Okay.

:Ponytail: Then event #2 happened at time T2.
:Cueball: Mhmm.

:Ponytail: How would you calculate how much time elapsed between T1 and T2?

:[The comic splits into two paths, each with a caption at the top.]

:[Path 1, upper right panel]
:Caption: Normal person:
:Cueball: T2 minus T1.

:[Path 2, lower right panel]
:Caption: Anyone who's worked on datetime systems:
:[Cueball has his arms raised.]
:Cueball: '''''It is impossible to know and a sin to ask!'''''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Time]]

Talk:2861: X Value

2023-12-01T21:51:27Z

Jh6p: /* Big O Notation? */ new section

transcript and short explanation added [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 18:47, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

Is there an easter egg here? Is 4.1083 a significant constant in some field?
[[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.91|172.71.154.91]] 19:00, 29 November 2023 (UTC)
:Dunno...but when I Googled it, it came up with a picture of a motorcycle I used to own - same vintage, same colour, same non-original aftermarket panniers - which was a little strange. Anybody else return any results centred around long-since-departed vehicles?

:Or not? [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 19:31, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

:Googling for it showed me... a picture of this very xkcd. It's recursive? [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 20:46, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

:Nothing interesting on Wolfram Alpha either https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=4.1083 [[User:Ruffy314|Ruffy314]] ([[User talk:Ruffy314|talk]]) 16:26, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

:I noted a proximity of "4.108(3)" to "42" and wondered if there was a connection ("how close can I get to 'the answer' without getting hammered for plagiarism or infringement?"). The comment below suggesting a link to the November 2023 "value" (= market capitalization) of X/Twitter is brilliant, but given that the market cap figure seems to have been posted on the day this comic was released, plus the evidence from comic 899, "coincidence" is probably the best explanation.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.118|162.158.186.118]] 18:27, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

https://www.der-postillon.com/2012/08/mathemuffel-erleichtert-wert-von-x-ein.html [[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.148|172.68.110.148]] 20:42, 29 November 2023 (UTC)
: This is in german, could you maybe give a translation at least? [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 20:45, 29 November 2023 (UTC)
:: Here is the English article: https://www.the-postillon.com/2017/04/value-of-x.html [[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.179|172.68.110.179]] 06:36, 1 December 2023 (UTC)
:: Basically the same joke, x being set to 5 in this case. The website is a satirical online newspaper. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 06:12, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

The "narrowing down" of n might be a reference to a combinatorics problem Ron Graham was solving, managing to narrow down the dimensions of the hypercube with a certain property to be more than 6 and less than... Well, Graham's Number.
[[Special:Contributions/172.71.122.209|172.71.122.209]] 22:12, 29 November 2023 (UTC)jamieth

:Even that is accomplishment. Really, narrowing number down from infinite set to finite one is the biggest narrowing you can do. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:29, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

"In string theory the number of flux vacua is commonly thought to be roughly '''10^500''',[4] but could be 10^272,000[5] or higher." -- [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory_landscape#Compactified_Calabi%E2%80%93Yau_manifolds String theory landscape#Compactified Calabi–Yau manifolds] [[User:Abclop99|Abclop99]] ([[User talk:Abclop99|talk]]) 22:23, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

As of today, the value of Twitter (which some may call X for unknown reasons) is of 41.09 Billion USD. This might be the joke?
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.129.16|162.158.129.16]] 22:50, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

The variable 'n' is often used in computer programs to be a counter for some activity that is repeated 'n' times. 'n' may be user input or it might be a calculated value like the number of items in a list. So the code would be something like, for the integer 'i' starting at 1 and iterating up to 'n' number of times in whatever computer language is being used. In this case, 'n' would be limited to the maximum value of the specific integer type in that computer language on that machine. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 03:34, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

A result that the math community has been waiting for for a long long time! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.103.135|172.71.103.135]] 08:16, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

What is wrong with comic 899? I can access other pages, but 899 gives error. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 16:50, 30 November 2023 (UTC)
: ...that comic works for me. By all means I can think of, but especially through either [[899: Number Line]], [[899]] or [[Number Line]] (the latter two being redirect-pages to the first, of course).
: Now ''occasionally'' (more frequently than I'd like), the server comes back with a message that it can't (currently, in that instance) give you the page, for reasons of its own. More rarely (but not unknown), Cloudflare with tell you that the whole site just isn't responding. But (wait and) try again and it usually works. (Unless you've just filled in a CAPTCHA, in submitting a page edit, in which case it's likely to tell you that the CAPTCHA is wrong/not ticked/completed it, so you get told off and have to try again.)
: If it's not such a transient problem, for you, could you let us know in what context you're trying to get there and failing?
: PS. "New comments should be added at the bottom." Answer: Because it's confusing. Question: Why ''shouldn't'' we put new things in front of old things? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.199|172.71.178.199]] 19:22, 30 November 2023 (UTC)
: Make sure that you have your Math module settings to PNG, not MathML. This creates an error in pages with Math modules as mentioned in the FAQ [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 19:45, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

: I've been having the same problem for the last 2 days: comic 899 won't load from any link or even a navigation button from an adjacent comic. I can access the talk page, but trying to get to comic 899 gives this result:
<nowiki>MediaWiki internal error.
:: I'm betting that comic 899 is the n'th comic and that broke math so the comic could not be displayed until someone from the math department at MIT stepped in and incremented n.

Original exception: [ZWloWSNSV_QR0qrq5MDPrwAAABA] 2023-12-01 05:00:09: Fatal exception of type "MWException"

Exception caught inside exception handler.

Set $wgShowExceptionDetails = true; at the bottom of LocalSettings.php to show detailed debugging information.</nowiki>
:I'm logged in with my math preference set to MathML. Ah, I just changed to PNG and the page loads fine. Thank you. (I guess it's time to review the FAQ and see what else I'm doing wrong!) [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 05:07, 1 December 2023 (UTC)

Careful research has also definitively determined that the best random number is 7. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.27.95|172.68.27.95]] 20:37, 1 December 2023 (UTC)

== Big O Notation? ==

I suspect the title text about n is a reference to big o notation where the function is only meaningful when n is large, but you might want to choose a function with "Bad Big-O performance" if you know in advance that n is below k (usually 2 or 3 or less than 10).
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/842242/big-o-when-the-value-of-n-gets-very-small, thus ruling that n > 8 would ensure that the Big-O growth would predict the most performant function.

2712: Gravity

2022-12-18T04:00:08Z

Jh6p:

{{comic
| number = 2712
| date = December 16, 2022
| title = Gravity
| image = gravity_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x700px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It's a long way down.
}}

*To experience the interactivity, visit the [http://xkcd.com/2712/ original comic].
==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by THE UNIVERSE FROM A PIECE OF FAIRY CAKE- Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
In this interactive comic, the viewer pilots a small spaceship throughout a vast area in space. The viewer is capable of exploring various bodies and planets within the play area, many containing easter eggs alluding to What If? 2 and previous xkcd comics. The flight mechanics are largely, if not entirely, Newtonian, so the vessel is capable of using the gravity of planets to alter its trajectory or even enter orbit. The spaceship has several indicator circles around it which appear when a gravitational body comes into range, showing the direction towards their center of gravity and the size of the body.

The arrow keys rotate the spaceship and accelerate it forward and backward. On mobile the comic will full screen, pressing either side of the center rotates the spaceship, and pressing in the center accelerates it forward. There is no way to accelerate backward on mobile.

It is fairly easy to fly between planets as long as you pay attention to orbital mechanics don't just floor the accelerator. The background stars show your velocity and orientation relative to the nearest gravity well. If you are having difficulties navigating space, point towards a gravity orb and accelerate for only a few seconds. Wait until the background stars spin wildly, and then reduce your velocity to 0 before gently accelerating towards to object.

There is no "universal" point of view — the point of view changes based on gravity. Thus, down is merely the direction towards the strongest center of gravity.

Throughout the play area are coins that change the spaceship into different rockets and non-space based vehicles, including humans.

The comic promotes Randall's new book [https://xkcd.com/what-if-2/ What If? 2], which was released in September and is available for purchase. Many of the planets contain references to various What If? articles.

The comic is similar to [[1608: Hoverboard]], which celebrated Thing Explainer instead.

===Celestial Bodies===

The following is an incomplete table of features:

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!
!
!
!
! colspan="4"|References
!
|-
! ID
! Description
! Transcript
! Tiles (X, Y)
! What If
! XKCD
! Movies
! Other
! Explanation
|-
|<code>origin</code>
|'''Starting planet'''
|
|(0, 0)
|
|
|
|
|The starting planet. The player begins on the launch pad in a landed position. Collecting the orbiting cannonball will transform you into a more advanced rocket.
|-
|<code>earth</code>
|'''Earth'''
|
|(27867,-35648)
|
|
|
|
|A planet with among other things; a crane dropping a comet onto a dinosaur, unusually high speed squirrels, Megan inviting Cueball into a pool, a region where the frame rate is intentionally limited, a flagpole, a literal rabbithole referencing the figuratively speaking rabbit hole, someone aiming at a satellite with an arrow, a lake with an eel, the earth-moon firepole, a volcano, two figures being attacked by a third with a sword, two kids playing soccer (Catching the ball will turn the ship into a soccer ball), a farmer on a tractor being stuck in what seems elastic earth, a banana pile, Megan and Cueball digging a hole (in the center of this planet is the "earth's core" referenced below, the Niagara Falls water being redirected into the LHC, Japan(?) leaving earth, a tube to the bottom of the ocean and a reference to everyoneorjustme.com
|-
|
|Earth's core
|
|
|
|
|
|
|[[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] floating in a small space in the center of the planet in inverted rotations.
|-
|<code>europa</code>
|'''Europa'''
|
|(13180, -2540)
|
|
|
|
|Europa, one of Jupiter's many moons (in real life). A broken, icy crust has a single path into its core.
|-
|
|Europa's crust
|"It's so unfair we don't get to compete in EuroVision."
"The region of the solar system where liquid water can exist on the surface is the habitable zone, and the region where it can exist beneath the surface of moons is the Eurozone."

"WHIRRRR"
|
|Y
|
|
|
|Europa's crust, with a single entrance into the core demarcated by an octopus leaving a hole.
Cueball states that Europa is in the Eurozone, a pun on the ''other'' Eurozone, with liquid underneath its surface.

A roomba whirs across the icy crust.

Cueball has a hairdryer and is melting the surface of the crust. A direct reference to [https://what-if.xkcd.com/35/ What If's Hairdryer].
|-
|
|Europa's core
|
|
|
|
|
|
|A watery ocean with octopi looking out into the great unknown using telescopes. This is a reference to octopus's intelligence here on earth! There's also a secret path leading to a book club, through the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
|-
|<code>b612</code>
|'''B-612'''
|"Asteroid deflection mission to earth. The package is delivered. Commencing planetary threat neutralization."
|(2610,3700)
|
|Y
|
|
|A reference to [https://xkcd.com/618/ Asteroid]. The little prince is having his asteroid blown up as it was heading towards Earth, apparently.
|-
|<code>dogplanet</code>
|'''Dog park planet'''
|
|(1240, 11230)
|
|
|
|
|A planet with a dog park. Covered in dogs, along with dog walkers and some fences. There's a hole being dug by two dogs and a dog bone empty space in the center.
|-
| <code>goodhart</code>
|'''What If? 2 scenario planet'''
|
|(-13300,-3260)
|
|
|
| Y
| Contains a reference to Kerbal Space Program, whimsically referring to the launchpad as the Vehicle Disassembly Building.

Contains a figure in a cave saying "MMM SPIDERS HOMF NOMF", which may be a reference to the [https://reallyreallyreallytrying.tumblr.com/post/40033025233/average-person-eats-3-spiders-a-year-factoid Spiders Georg] meme.
|-
|<code>sun</code>
|'''The Sun'''
|
|(-14950, 12080)
|
|
|
|
|Difficult to escape from if you hit the core.
|-
|
|Sun's core
|
|
|Y
|
|
|
|Difficult to escape from. Can be escaped by rotating around the sun until an escape-like velocity could be reached.
|-
|<code>soupiter</code>
|'''Soupiter'''
|"I think it's chicken noodle? Hard to tell."
|(-800, -9040)
|Y
|
|
|
|A planet made of soup, with a core. As commented by Cueball, noodle soup. Has several small versions of other planets floating around it.
|-
|<code>nojapan</code>
|'''Earth without Japan'''
|"Something is missing."
|(-7680, -5850)
|Y
|
|
|
|Earth, except it's missing japan.
|-
|<code>japanmoon</code>
|'''Just Japan'''
|-5930, -5800
|
|Y
|
|
|
|A moon with water surrounding... just Japan.
|-
|<code>pigeons</code>
|'''A blob labeled "Pigeons"'''
|
|(-9020, -2490)
|Y
|
|
|
|A reference to Chapter 6 of What If? 2, where it would take 1.6 x 10^25 pigeons to lift you and a chair up to the halfway point of Australia's Q1 skyscraper.
|-
|<code>enterprise</code>
|'''Starship Enterprise'''
|
|
|
|
|Y
|
|Star Trek reference: The Enterprise-C, yes 2344,commanded by Captain Garrett's. While defending a Klingon outpost, the weapons discharges resulted in the creation of a temporal rift, through which the badly damaged Enterprise drifted. In the comic, there is a large, invisible gravity distortion near the Enterprise-C
|-
|<code>qwantz</code>
|'''Dinosaur planet'''
|"Welcome... to Jurassic Park."
| (20403,-49559)
|
|
|Y
|
|An homage to [https://www.qwantz.com/ Dinosaur Comics], a webcomic Randall has mentioned several times before. All the dinosaurs on the planet are black-and-white versions of the clip art dinosaurs in that comic. Also references the Jurassic Park movies, with CEO John Hammond welcoming paleontologists Dr. Sattler and Dr. Grant to the planet. The long grass depicted is a plot point in later films.
|-
|
|'''What If? 1 scenario planet'''
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|<code>roads</code>
|'''Cat blocking traffic flowing through portals'''
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|<code>outside</code>
|'''Edge of the Universe'''
|
| ( 6081, 26138 )
|
|
|
|
|It looks like a planet labeled "edge of the universe". Outside the universe, so inside the "edge of the universe planet", is another universe, the bubble universe. Hidden entrance is between 10 and 11 'o clock.
|-
|
|'''A tree larger than the planet it's growing on'''
|
|
|
|Y
|
|
|May be a reference to [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2:_Petit_Trees_(sketch) Petit Trees]. More probably, a reference to ''The Little Prince'', a french children's novel about a traveler from a distant asteroid. In the novel, baobab trees are a serious threat to the Prince's home asteroid, as they are so large that their roots would engulf the asteroid entirely. Randall has alluded to The Little Prince numerous times before, especially in what-if articles.
|-
|<code>outside</code>
|'''Milliways'''
|
| in code: <code>[0,-14500]</code> in game: <code>[0,29000]</code>
|
|
|Y
|Y
|A reference to Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe from ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. On one side of the planet, Ponytail, Cueball, Megan, and other characters gather on the patio of the Milliways restaurant; on the other side, the Sojourner rover examines a rock.
|-
|<code>greatattractor</code>
|'''The Great Attractor'''
|
|
|
|Y
|
|
|Beret Guy stands on the surface of a large ball labeled "The Great Attractor". Gravity is so strong that escaping is impossible.
|-
|<code>present</code>
|'''Present'''
|"I didn't do any of my Christmas shopping yet because I was too busy drawing tiny planets."
"I'm done with my shopping! I got everyone What if? 2"

"...You got me my own book?"

"Yeah! I figured that since you wrote it, it must be right up your alley."

"It does make a good gift, though. You can get it at xkcd.com/whatif2"

"I got you this present!"

"Is it an angry bobcat?"

"It might not be."
|in code: <code>[22820,-18920]</code> in game: <code>[45640,37840]</code>
|
|Y
|
|
|The XKCD cast react to giving each other What if 2? as a present. Gravity at the bottom of the missing quarter of the planet is inescapable. Black Hat gives Cueball a "gift" which he claims "might not be a bobcat", a reference to [[A-Minus-Minus]]
|-
|<code>maw1</code>, <code>maw2</code>, ... <code>maw14</code>
|'''Black hole cluster'''
|
|
|
|
|
|
|A cluster of black holes with extremely high gravitational strength, set to the maximum of 2048. Not particularly easy to land on with multiple conflicting gravitational fields, but once landed on, rather difficult to escape.
|-
|<code>remnant</code>
|'''Remnant'''
|"All right, that's close enough"
"Oh no"

{{w|Walkin' on the Sun|"So don't delay, act now, supplies are running out"}}

"In 5 billion years, the Sun will run out of fuel and suffer gigennial burnout."

"The immense gravity of the sun's remnant means that this is the tallest possible skyscraper."
|(19620, 3800)
|
|
|
|
|A stellar remnant, with high gravity (making it difficult to escape, although it's possible to achieve escape velocity by flying sideways). Has various small landmarks, including a "skyscraper" and suspension bridge. There are bombs being dropped from above the planet, with one that seems to be sledding on the planet.
|-
|<code>steerswoman</code>
|'''Steerswoman Planet'''
|"As a Steerswoman, I have to answer any question anyone asks me, or I'm expelled from the order."
"What's one question that you would be unwilling to answer?"
"Oh no."

"Handle this artifact with great care. It contains a magical wizard's potion which the ancients called 'trinitrotoluene'"
|(-35070,-2500)
|
|
|
|
|A reference to the Steerswoman series of books by Rosemary Kirstein. Includes a number of references to the series, including a group of people observing a small object orbiting the planet.

Trinitrotoluene is better known as {{w|TNT}}, a powerful explosive.
|-
|<code>peeler</code>
|'''Peeler'''
|
|(-9270, 620)
|
|
|
|
|A reference to the question posed by "What If 2: Lose Weight the Slow and Incredibly Difficult Way". A large potato peeler is seen removing the earth's crust.
|}

===Ships===
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Name
! Description
! Location
! Filename
! Image
|-
|Default
|The starting ship.
|
|ship2
|
|-
| Tintin
|
| On the starting planet; can be obtained by collecting the cannonball in orbit
| ship-tintin
|
|-
| Figure
|Stick figure
|On Goodhart
|ship-figure
|
|-
| Soccer ball
| Soccer ball shaped ship
| On Earth
|ship-soccerball
|
|-
|Alternative Ship
|Slightly thicker version of default ship
|
|ship1
|}

==Data Dump==

extracted from a JSON blob near the bottom of <code>https://xkcd.com/2712/comic.js</code>.
I believe this to be all the data but i'm not sure. this should probably be on a different page but i'll leave that up to the smart people
<pre style="height:10em;overflow-y:scroll;">
{
"items": {
"coin-cannonball": {
"consumable": "yes",
"effect": "transformship|ship-tintin",
"image": "coin",
"loc": [
359,
-815
],
"size": [
40,
40
]
},
"coin-figure": {
"consumable": "yes",
"effect": "transformship|ship-figure",
"image": "figure",
"loc": [
-15050,
-2984
],
"size": [
40,
40
]
},
"coin-regular": {
"consumable": "yes",
"effect": "transformship|ship2",
"image": "regular",
"loc": [
-29976,
-8077
],
"size": [
40,
40
]
},
"coin-soccerball": {
"consumable": "yes",
"effect": "transformship|ship-soccer",
"image": "soccerball",
"loc": [
15293,
11140
],
"size": [
40,
40
]
}
},
"locations": {
"b612": {
"gravity": 60,
"height": 2048,
"loc": [
2610,
3700
],
"radius": 82,
"width": 2048
},
"dogplanet": {
"gravity": 300,
"height": 2048,
"loc": [
1240,
11230
],
"radius": 337,
"width": 2048
},
"earth": {
"gravity": 21000,
"height": 16384,
"loc": [
14360,
14360
],
"radius": 3275,
"width": 16384
},
"enterprise": {
"gravity": 200,
"height": 2048,
"loc": [
1010,
30440
],
"radius": 160,
"width": 2048
},
"europa": {
"gravity": 5000,
"height": 8192,
"loc": [
13180,
-2540
],
"radius": 1625,
"width": 8192
},
"goodhart": {
"gravity": 5000,
"height": 8192,
"loc": [
-13300,
-3260
],
"radius": 1625,
"width": 8192
},
"greatattractor": {
"gravity": 450000,
"height": 4096,
"loc": [
-297000,
-125000
],
"radius": 800,
"width": 4096
},
"japanmoon": {
"gravity": 50,
"height": 2048,
"loc": [
-5930,
-5800
],
"radius": 67,
"width": 2048
},
"maw1": {
"gravity": 2000,
"height": 2048,
"loc": [
-31576,
-9077
],
"radius": 18,
"width": 2048
},
"maw10": {
"gravity": 2000,
"height": 2048,
"loc": [
-29516,
-6321
],
"radius": 15,
"width": 2048
},
"maw11": {
"gravity": 2000,
"height": 2048,
"loc": [
-29381,
-6248
],
"radius": 12,
"width": 2048
},
"maw12": {
"gravity": 2000,
"height": 2048,
"loc": [
-26832,
-5928
],
"radius": 18,
"width": 2048
},
"maw13": {
"gravity": 2000,
"height": 2048,
"loc": [
-31743,
-4724
],
"radius": 18,
"width": 2048
},
"maw14": {
"gravity": 2000,
"height": 2048,
"loc": [
-26071,
-10824
],
"radius": 18,
"width": 2048
},
"maw2": {
"gravity": 2000,
"height": 2048,
"loc": [
-30211,
-8831
],
"radius": 18,
"width": 2048
},
"maw3": {
"gravity": 2000,
"height": 2048,
"loc": [
-27975,
-8266
],
"radius": 18,
"width": 2048
},
"maw4": {
"gravity": 2000,
"height": 2048,
"loc": [
-29546,
-7971
],
"radius": 18,
"width": 2048
},
"maw5": {
"gravity": 2000,
"height": 2048,
"loc": [
-29791,
-7631
],
"radius": 18,
"width": 2048
},
"maw6": {
"gravity": 2000,
"height": 2048,
"loc": [
-29328,
-7575
],
"radius": 18,
"width": 2048
},
"maw7": {
"gravity": 2000,
"height": 2048,
"loc": [
-29700,
-7426
],
"radius": 18,
"width": 2048
},
"maw8": {
"gravity": 2000,
"height": 2048,
"loc": [
-29165,
-7160
],
"radius": 18,
"width": 2048
},
"maw9": {
"gravity": 2000,
"height": 2048,
"loc": [
-30772,
-6910
],
"radius": 18,
"width": 2048
},
"nojapan": {
"gravity": 80,
"height": 2048,
"loc": [
-7680,
-5850
],
"radius": 200,
"width": 2048
},
"origin": {
"gravity": 1500,
"height": 4096,
"loc": [
0,
0
],
"radius": 630,
"width": 4096
},
"outside": {
"gravity": 200,
"height": 16384,
"loc": [
0,
-14500
],
"radius": 125,
"width": 16384
},
"peeler": {
"gravity": 50,
"height": 2048,
"loc": [
-9270,
620
],
"radius": 40,
"width": 2048
},
"pigeons": {
"gravity": 100,
"height": 2048,
"loc": [
-9020,
-2490
],
"radius": 160,
"width": 2048
},
"present": {
"gravity": 300,
"height": 2048,
"loc": [
22820,
-18920
],
"radius": 195,
"width": 2048
},
"qwantz": {
"gravity": 1400,
"height": 4096,
"loc": [
11060,
24870
],
"radius": 850,
"width": 4096
},
"remnant": {
"gravity": 9000,
"height": 4096,
"loc": [
19620,
3800
],
"radius": 537,
"width": 4096
},
"roads": {
"gravity": 40,
"height": 16384,
"loc": [
13240,
-11510
],
"radius": 30,
"width": 16384
},
"soupiter": {
"gravity": 1300,
"height": 4096,
"loc": [
-8000,
-9040
],
"radius": 812,
"width": 4096
},
"steerswoman": {
"gravity": 600,
"height": 4096,
"loc": [
-35070,
-2500
],
"radius": 520,
"width": 4096
},
"sun": {
"gravity": 9000,
"height": 16384,
"loc": [
-14950,
12080
],
"radius": 540,
"width": 16384
}
},
"player": {
"animation": "player.png",
"animcount": 4,
"startloc": [
0,
750
],
"targetheight": 59
},
"tile_height": 1024,
"tile_source": "tile",
"tile_width": 1024
}

</pre>

==Hacks==
'''Modes''' are activated by opening the Javascript Console (F12 [Or Command-Alt-I in most browsers under Mac OS X] to open Developer Tools, then Console tab) and writing corresponding commands. 
'''Click to expand:''' 

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
 
*'''Speedhack:''' <code>ship.engines = "warp"</code> - Speed hacking, sets speed to 1.4x. set to "standard" to reset to normal speed
*'''Teleport to planet:''' <code>[Comic.voyager.pos.x, Comic.voyager.pos.y] = Comic.planetRects.'''''origin'''''.slice(0,2)</code> - teleport near a planet, in this example near earth. You'll still have to fly a bit towards the nearest planet to reach it. Replace '''''origin''''' with the ID of the planet you want to go to, from the table above.
*'''Teleport to coordinate:''' <code>[Comic.voyager.pos.x, Comic.voyager.pos.y] = '''''[0, -2000]'''''</code> - teleport to an exact coordinate. <code>[0, -2000]</code> happens to take you to the starting area.
*'''Chaos Mode:''' <code>ship.engines="infinite improbability drive"</code> - Seems to randomly teleports the ship
*'''Insta Death:''' <code>ship.shields = false</code> - Kill the player if they land on a planet, the code never sets it to false, so it seems to be always true.
*'''No Clip:''' <code>noclip = true</code> - Enables noclip.
*'''Select ship:''' <code>Comic.ship = "ship-tintin"</code> - Select ship (use filename from list of ships)
*'''Autorotate:''' <code>Comic.cameraRotation = false</code> - View does not rotate with ship)
*'''Goggles:''' <code>ze.goggles()</code> - returns a warning: "they do nothing!". This is a reference to Hoverboard, where ''ze.goggles()'' would give you the ability to see false walls. Which itself is most likely a reference to the Simpsons where Radioactive man complains that his safety goggles do nothing against a deluge of acid.
</div>
 

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Welcome!

To celebrate the world of what if? 2, here is your very own planet to explore!

Give someone the science question-and-answer book what if? 2 for Christmas:
xkcd.com/whatif2

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Book promotion]]
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Bobcats]]

Talk:1759: British Map

2016-11-15T11:42:53Z

Jh6p: /* Riffing on Boston? */

The actual location for Braintree should be Essex not North Yorkshire.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.171|141.101.98.171]] 15:22, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Could Highland be a reference to Highlander? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.84|173.245.52.84]] 15:27, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

OK, I know you removed the </nowiki> that ruined the italics there, [[User:Davidy22|Davidy]]. Don't lie to me, you troll. [[User:Jacky720|Jacky720]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]]) 19:04, 14 November 2016 (UTC)
:Whoops, was removing autogenerated nowiki text from another user, missed the first tag. Also, that edit was completely unnecessary. 21:29, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Blick could be referring to Wick , at the top of Scotland ''Please sign your comments with <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>''

''Waterdown: Near [the actual] Grimsby'' Interestingly enough, in southern Ontario, Canada, there's a Waterdown not far from a Grimsby. Waterdown is considered part of Hamilton, and is towards its northwestern edge, while Grimsby is to Hamilton's east. --[[User:VonAether|VonAether]] ([[User talk:VonAether|talk]]) 17:01, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

The protractor off the West coast of Scotland is a reference to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mull_of_Kintyre_test
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.215|141.101.98.215]] 17:44, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Blick could also be Oldmeldrum.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.234.229|162.158.234.229]] 19:06, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Why aren't the coordinates part of the first table? [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 20:05, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Is Waterdown perhaps another Watership Down reference? [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 20:38, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Pity there's no [[wikipedia:Towcester|Towcester]] :) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.251|141.101.98.251]] 20:47, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

"Lakebottom" is equated with Lake Windermere (probably correct, largest lake in the Lake District) and the table states that many waterspeed records were set there. Arguably it is Coniston Water (same area, third largest "Lake" in the region) that is more (in) famous for speed records... Not that Randall references speed at all. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.159|141.101.98.159]] 21:31, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Helcaraxë and Blick seem to share a single dot. Maybe Randall forgot to put a dot there, or there's some other reason? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.112|108.162.216.112]] 22:58, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

since Randal Munroe wrote the comic, and he is an american, the map WAS labeled by an american[[User:Jessep13|Jessep13]] ([[User talk:Jessep13|talk]]) 00:08, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

‘Seasedge’ and ‘Eyemouth’ look like they should be Seahouses and Lynemouth. So far as I can tell, Seasedge is marked as a little north of Seahouses, roughly west of Lindisfarne (which suggests Haggerston; regardless, north Northumberland coast), and Eyemouth is marked approximately where Ashington should be; ‘Hairskull’ appears to be where Durham should be. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.160|141.101.98.160]] 02:33, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

"BBC Channel 4" might also be a reference to Torchwood and other BBC Shows that were filmed in Wales (though did not necessarily air on Channel 4) [[User:Bpendragon|Bpendragon]] ([[User talk:Bpendragon|talk]]) 03:04, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

In fact, "Channel 4" is a channel not related to the BBC, so the reference to "BBC Channel 4" would be a mash-up between "Channel 4" and "BBC4" [[User:Gearoid|Gearóid]] ([[User talk:Gearoid|talk]]) 07:30, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

"Wessex", although "obsolete" as a place name, is still in common use as a descriptive term. For example, there is both a Wessex Police Force and a Wessex Water supply company. [[User:Gearoid|Gearóid]] ([[User talk:Gearoid|talk]]) 08:30, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

I know the "Fhqwhgads" reference from the Ikea-ripoff video game Home Improvisation - always thought it was a pun in that game on Ikea's Swedish product names. Is the Homestar Runner reference older? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.162|141.101.98.162]] 09:05, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

"Aidenn" is an alternate form of "Eden." It's best known for Poe's using it in "The Raven." If the actual location is Merseyside, it could be a wordplay suggesting divine mercy. [[User:Gmcgath|Gmcgath]] ([[User talk:Gmcgath|talk]]) 11:25, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

== Riffing on Boston? ==

The title text may be derivitive of an old joke around Randall's home town, where Boston has neighborhoods with geographically illogical names: The geographical center of Boston is in Roxbury. Due north of the center we find the South End.
This is not to be confused with South Boston, which lies directly east from the South End.
North of the South End is East Boston and southwest of East Boston is the North End. BackBay was filled in years ago

Also, from the counties surrounding Boston: Norfolk is mostly south of Suffolk, except for a small gerrymandered piece that is in the middle between Suffolk and Middlesex.

Talk:1759: British Map

2016-11-15T11:38:34Z

Jh6p: /* Riffing on Boston? */ new section

1649: Pipelines

2016-03-02T11:33:56Z

Jh6p: /* Table */

{{comic
| number = 1649
| date = February 29, 2016
| title = Pipelines
| image = pipelines.png
| titletext = In the future, every single pipeline will lead to the bowl of a giant blender, and we'll all just show up with a bucket each day to take our share of the resulting smoothie.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The table with all the items should be filled out with explanations etc. and the diameter should be calculated from real data (with references).}}

Follows a similar idea to the [[what if?]] {{what if|147|Niagara Straw}}, (from three days before this comic's release), where the entire water flow over {{w|Niagara Falls}} is imagined to flow through a straw (i.e. 7 mm diameter with disastrous results).

In this comic [[Randall]] imagines what size pipes are necessary to carry US domestic production/consumption of various fluids if the flow rate were fixed at 4 meters per second. Randall notes that "many pipes would overlap", owing to the fact that consumption of one item as corn syrup would be due to the production of one of the others, in this case soda pop (another example, than the previous one which is actually mentioned in the comic, could be gasoline which is produced from petroleum ).

The top panel is in [http://store-xkcd-com.myshopify.com/products/actual-size-stickers actual size] (something Randall often jokes about but here he means it). This means that if you look at the image in actual size (or measure lengths in the full size image) then the measured diameter is the diameter Randall has calculated the pipe should be, based on his data for the consumption of these substances.

In the second panel the pipes are too big for his drawing. To indicate the scale he has both inserted a human (appearance like [[Megan]], but with blonde hair, i.e. not Megan) and the top panel has been shrunk down to indicate how much larger the bottom panel is (this is similar to the link between the panels in [[980: Money]]). Using the size of the top panel and the smaller insert, it can be found that the scale is 20:1. (The woman is 9 cm high in the image, which makes her 180 cm -- 5 feet 11 inches -- in "real life"). The pipe next to her for gasoline would be 2.2 m high.

Since the caption at the top mentions both fluid produced and consumed in the US it becomes very difficult to find out which number Randall uses. For instance the consumption of wine in the US and the production of wine in the US is not necessarily the same as wine is both imported and exported. Should there then be two pipes? Unlike similar comics (like Money mentioned above) there are no references for where Randall has the data for this comic.

As usual with xkcd, the absurdity -- and improbability -- of routing the entirety of each fluid through a single pipe at any point is the source of humor. In addition, despite Randall's stated assumption that all the fluids are magically flowing at the same rate as public water (4 meters per second), many could never actually do so; some "fluids" shown are too viscous (e.g. peanut butter, Silly Putty, meat), adhesive (e.g. maple syrup), or thermally impractical (e.g. glass, cheese, ice cream and yogurt). Lastly, many are just plain zany (e.g. saliva a reference to another what if? {{what if|144|Saliva Pool}}). Note that at the bottom of the last panel there is a much larger pipe for the tap water used by the public. All substances are listed below in the [[#Table|table]].

The title text refers to a possible future based on the idea of this comic in which all the pipes with the above mentioned fluids will actually lead into the same hole as shown in the top right panel. This hole will then be the bowl of a giant blender that mixes all these substances together to a ''{{w|smoothie}}''. The future people will then just come up to this blender and get a bucket full of this mix each day. In reality, this would be an impractical method of getting all of the fluids. Setting the logistical considerations of such a setup aside, this would mean that ketchup and salsa, both intended for human consumption, would be mixed with fluids which are harmful to humans, such as windshield wiper fluid.

Note: "Soup" has been left out, and it might have been expected in this comic due to the similarity to this system with [[Beret Guy|Beret Guy's]] use of a "soup outlet" as an entrepreneur in [[1293: Job Interview]]. It is probably a larger pipeline than salsa and possibly even ketchup. However, there are many different varieties of soups, and most soup is probably not bought finished, both very good reasons to not include it in the chart. But still the idea of having a soup outlet is very similar to this comic.

===Table===
*All the substances are listed here in the "reading" order also used in the transcript.
*The diameter is for the inner part of the tube.
*GL is for GigaLiters - or Billion Liters. This is strictly the annual discharge of the Size (cm) column at 4 m/s.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
|+ All substances with size as found in the picture, vs. size calculated from public information
|-
! scope="col" | Substance
! scope="col" | Size (cm)
! scope="col" | Annual Discharge (GL)
! scope="col" | Explanation
|-
| {{w|Toothpaste}}
| 3.5
| 0.121
| In the title text of [[1599: Water Delivery]] Randall claims that he as a child could not understand whyt there were no toothpaste pipe to his house when there was one for water... Giving this is at the top, this is a clear allusion to this comment. Calculation is based on 542 g/year per capita consumption of toothpaste, which I found [https://www.google.co.il/search?q=toothpaste+consumption+by+country&num=100&espv=2&rlz=1C1VFKB_enIL627IL627&tbm=isch&imgil=2wpGcxkoKlCvAM%253A%253BvrrYrXTGlziE6M%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.sanasecurities.com%25252Ftop-story%25252Ffuture-prospect-indian-oral-care-industry&source=iu&pf=m&fir=2wpGcxkoKlCvAM%253A%252CvrrYrXTGlziE6M%252C_&usg=__g9B9_HQ-jLim5P25Ov5d6l6BiNk%3D&biw=1920&bih=955&ved=0ahUKEwjLiMn-op_LAhVD4XIKHcvPCMsQyjcIJA&ei=I27VVovrEsPCywPLn6PYDA#imgrc=2wpGcxkoKlCvAM%3A here]. (Sorry couldn't click the link on my work computer for some reason...) I'm not even sure what year the graph is from, so I guessed 2013, and used 316.5 million estimated 2013 US population to calculate the diameter above.
|-
| {{w|Nail polish}}
| 0.4
| 0.000159
|
|-
| {{w|Windshield washer fluid}}
| 5.6
| 0.311
|
|-
| {{w|Silly putty}}
| 0.1
| 0.0000991
| Smallest diameter
|-
| {{w|Shampoo}}
| 4
| 0.159
|
|-
| {{w|Honey}}
| 5.2
| 0.268
|
|-
| {{w|Blood donation|Donated blood}}
| 0.9
| 0.00803
|
|-
| {{w|Vanilla}}
| 0.4
| 0.000159
| Not the ice but the spice (which is black as the substance in the vanilla pipe).
|-
| {{w|Ketchup}}
| 5.2
| 0.268
|
|-
| {{w|Salsa (sauce)|Salsa}}
| 3.6
| 0.128
|
|-
| {{w|Sunscreen}}
| 1.35
| 0.0181
|
|-
| {{w|Personal lubricant}}
| 0.65
| 0.00419
| Aka lube
|-
| {{w|LCD liquid}}
| 0.26
| 0.000670
| For {{w|Liquid-crystal display}}
|-
| {{w|Mayonnaise|Mayo}}
| 4.4
|
| Or mayonnaise
|-
| {{w|Printer ink}}
| 1.4
| 0.192
|
|-
| {{w|Maple syrup}}
| 1.8
| 0.0178
|
|
|-
| {{w|Hair conditioner|Conditioner}}
| 2.5
| 0.0620
| For hair
|-
| {{w|Mustard (condiment)|Mustard}}
| 3.7
| 0.136
|
|-
| {{w|Liquid soap}}
| 4.7
| 0.219
|
|-
| {{w|Olive oil}}
| 6.2
| 0.381
| Largest diameter in the upper chart
|-
| {{w|Coffee}}
| 58
| 33.4
|
|-
| {{w|Peanut butter}}
| 8.6
| 0.733
| Smallest diameter in the bottom chart
|-
| {{w|Ice cream}}
| 20
| 3.97
|
|-
| {{w|Cheese}}
| 70
| 48.6
| Made from milk (cow) also in the chart
|-
| {{w|Carbonated water|Soda}}
| 82
| 66.7
| As in club soda
|-
| {{w|Acetone}}
| 13.6
| 1.83
| An organic chemical used as a highly potent cleaner in labs.
|-
| {{w|Liquor}}
| 15
| 2.23
|
|-
| {{w|Gasoline}}
| 220
| 480.
| Made from petrol, also in the chart
|-
| {{w|Yogurt}}
| 15
| 2.23
| Made from milk (cow), also in the chart
|-
| {{w|Milk#Cow.27s_milk|Milk (cow)}}
| 106
| 111
|
|-
| {{w|Bottled water}}
| 71
| 50.0
| See also [[1599: Water Delivery]]
|-
| {{w|Sugar}}
| 42
| 17.5
| See also [[1639: To Taste]]
|-
| {{w|Saliva}}
| 85
| 71.6
| From these data it could be calculated how long it would take America to drool enough to fill that pool from the what if? {{what if|144|Saliva Pool}}.
|-
| {{w|Wine}}
| 18
| 3.21
| Americans drank just under [https://www.wineinstitute.org/resources/statistics/article86 900 million gallons of wine in 2014], or almost 3.4 million cubic metres per year meaning that Americans drink about 0.11 m3/s. With the pipe flowing at 4 m/s this pipe must have an area of 268cm2. The radius of a pipe of area 268cm^2 is 9.25 cm. The wine pipe should thus have a diameter of 18.5 cm, very close to the one found by measuring on the chart.
|-
| {{w|HFCS}}
| 20
| 3.97
| High fructose corn syrup
|-
| {{w|Breast milk|Milk (human)}}
| 10.6
| 1.114
|
|-
| {{w|Petroleum}}
| 318
| 1002
| Largest diameter in the bottom chart, except for the public water. Also known as crude oil. Used to make for instance gasoline, also in the chart.
|-
| {{w|Meat}}
| 59
| 34.5
|
|-
| {{w|Glass}}
| 28
| 7.77
|
|-
| {{w|Beer}}
| 54
| 28.9
|
|-
| {{w|Tea}}
| 41
| 16.67
|
|-
| {{w|Cement}}
| 74
| 54.3
|
|-
| {{w|Tap water|Public water}}
| 2550
| 64,465
| Using the formula [http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/564058/calculate-the-radius-of-a-circle-given-the-chord-length-and-height-of-a-segment here] it is possible to calculate the diameter of a circle given the chord length = l and height = h of a segment. From the drawing (and scaling) l = 390 cm and h = 15 cm. The formula states that D = h + l2/(4*h) = 15 cm + (390 cm)2/(4*15 cm) = 2550 cm.
|}

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the first main panel, to the left of a smaller panel to the right.]
:<big>The size of the US’s</big>
:<big><big>'''Pipelines'''</big></big>
:<big>if each fluid produced or consumed in the US has to be carried by a single pipe</big>
:Assuming they all flowed at the same speed of about 4m/s
:Note: Many pipelines would overlap (eg. '''soda'''/corn syrup)

:[There is a small panel to the right showing three gray pipes of different sizes leading out over a large hole in the ground. Only a part of the hole can be seen at the bottom left part of the panel, but it curves around indicating it is a large circular hole. The pipes are supported by small legs beneath them and from the end of all three thick liquids are squirting out and down into the hole. The first pipe is by far the largest; the liquid from it is white, but not as white as the background. The second pipe is by far the smallest squirting dark red liquid and the final rightmost pipe is in between and squirts our light brown liquid. Each pipe is labeled. The label on the smallest cannot be read properly, but from the info gained in the next panel it can be inferred for certain what it says (and this is indicated here below):]
:[Large pipe (white)]: Mayo
:[Small pipe (dark red)]: Nail polish
:[Medium pipe (light brown)]: Maple syrup

:[Below is a large panel with a caption at the top. And below this there are twenty circles in different sizes and with different color (or even texture). Each circle is labeled, for the five smallest the label is outside, in one case with an arrow indicating where the label belongs. The rest has the label inside. The text is in black except for four of those with text inside, but with red of black color. Here the text is white. The labels are indicated by color and size, going roughly from top left in reading order based on the position and size of circles not of position of the text:]

:<big>Actual size </big> (When viewed on a typical computer screen) 
:[Medium green blue and white spiral]: Toothpaste
:[Tiny dark red]: Nail polish
:[Big light blue with white specks]: Windshield washer fluid
:[Very tiny purple]: Silly putty
:[Medium light green]: Shampoo
:[Large dark yellow]: Honey
:[Very small blood red]: Donated blood
:[Tiny black]: Vanilla
:[Big red]: Ketchup
:[Medium dark red with chunks of in different green and lighter red colors]: Salsa
:[Small white]: Sunscreen
:[Very small light green]: Personal lubricant
:[Very tiny gray]: LCD liquid
:[Medium off-white]: Mayo
:[Very small black]: Printer ink
:[Small light brown]: Maple syrup
:[Small light green]: Conditioner
:[Medium yellow]: Mustard
:[Large light green]: Liquid soap
:[Big olive green]: Olive oil

:[The panel just described is indicated to fit into a small rectangle at the top left of the next panel below. There are four lines ending at the four corners of this small rectangle, two of these are going to the two bottom corners and the other two ends on the lower part of the panel just above the small rectangle. They are indicated to go under the panel and would hit the two top corners if extrapolated). The 11 largest circles are clearly seen, but most of the other circles can also be noted. The colors are the same but any features in the original circles as well as the labels are gone. The part of the black top frame of the next panel below is faded out to gray in between the section cut off by the two lines going to the bottom corners of the panel above. This rectangle indicated the increasing size compared to the first panel above.]

:[Apart from the insert mentioned above the second panel follows the same layout, but with 22 circles with even larger range of sizes. The panel is more than twice as long as the first panel. A Megan-like girl, but with white hair, is drawn at the top of the panel just left of the middle. Her hair close to the top, just below the line going to the right corner above. There are two medium and five smaller circles to her left and one small close to her head and one huge circle to her right. Her feet are less than a third down this panel standing on top of the next row of circles. In the bottom half of the panel there is a giant circle which almost touches the left side of the panel. There are smaller circles above it and down along the right side. One last circle is to the left almost at the bottom. At the very bottom is a slightly curving line to indicate a much much larger blue circle that only graces the panel (no. 23). There is a small green fish in this water to the left of the label. Below the labels are again listed as above. One label has a foot note. But it is written directly beneath the circle in which it is referenced. So it will be written together with the label on the next line. There is also one case with an arrow used to indicate where the label belongs.]

:[Medium dark gray]: Coffee
:[Very tiny gray]: Peanut butter
:[Very small gray with black specks]: Ice cream
:[Very small yellow with white specks]: Cheese
:[Large brown with white fizzing]: Soda
:[Tiny White]: Acetone
:[Tiny gray]: Liquor
:[Huge dark yellow]: Gasoline
:[Tiny White with blue and orange specks]: Yogurt
:[Big white]: Milk (cow)
:[Large light blue]: Bottled water
:[Small white]: Sugar
:[Large light gray with white specks]: Saliva
:[Very small light yellow]: Wine
:[Very small orange]: HFCS
:[Very tiny white]: Milk (human)
:[Gigantic dark gray]: Petroleum
:[Medium dark red with black texture]: Meat (mostly solid)
:[Small white]: Glass*
::<nowiki>*</nowiki>Solid at room temperature
:[Medium light brown]: Beer
:[Small gray brown]: Tea
:[Large gray]: Cement
:[Gracing bottom of panel light blue]: Public water

==Trivia==
*In addition to the what if? article, the relevancy of pipelines, particularly regarding public water, is heightened due to the ongoing public health crisis in {{w|Flint, Michigan}}, caused by recent (mis-)management of their public water system.<ref>McLaughlin, Elliot. [http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/18/us/flint-michigan-water-crisis-five-things/index.html “5 things to know about Flint's water crisis”], '{{w|CNN}}', January 21 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2016.</ref>
**Studies have shown that temporary use of the Flint River as a water source caused corrosive water to leach lead from old pipes, causing lead poisoning in many residents, particularly children; other ill effects in addition to lead have been noted.
**The crisis has lead to a public outcry against the state "emergency financial management" team appointed and supervised by the state executive (Gov. Rick Snyder and staff) and an outpouring of support from nearby communities such as Metro Detroit via bottled water donations to Flint residents.
*This is the third comic posted on Leap Day ({{w|February 29}}); the previous ones were:
**[[390: Nightmares]] also like this one on a Friday in 2008 and
**[[1023: Late-Night PBS]] on a Wednesday in 2012.
**If the current M-W-F schedule continues, the next such comic will not happen before 2036 when the leap day again falls on a Friday.
**It may also be interesting to note that the first three leap years after xkcd began (in just over 10 years) all fell on a release day, then followed by a break of 20 years. In addition, three of these first four leap days all fell on a Friday.

==References==
<references />

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Animals]]

1461: Payloads

2014-12-17T11:49:29Z

Jh6p: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1461
| date = December 17, 2014
| title = Payloads
| image = payloads.png
| titletext = With a space elevator, a backyard full of solar panels could launch about 500 horses per year, and a large power plant could launch 10 horses per minute.
}}

A larger version of the image can be found [http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/payloads_large.png here].

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Still probably incomplete, but I don't know why. I just removed the "CREATED BY A BOT" message, because since then, it has been edited by a human.}}
This comic lists the payload capacity of several launch vehicles, and the mass of several spacecraft, in number of horses. This could be related to Randall's hobby of abusing dimensional analysis, as horses/ship is technically a perfectly acceptable derived unit, provided the size of a horse is standard (in this comic it appears that 'One Horse' is defined as 400kg). In cases where the mass is less than one Horse, an alternative measure of Dogs has been used, where one Dog appears to be roughly 40kg. In the case of {{w|Vanguard 1}}, even a Dog is too large a measure, so instead the unit Squirrel is used to represent its 1.47kg mass.

The overall comic is an allusion to {{w|horsepower}}, a similar-sounding but completely different concept. Horsepower is a measurement of {{w|power (physics)|power}} ({{w|work (physics)|work}} per unit time). Another commonly referenced unit for power is the {{w|watt}}. 1 horsepower is meant to be approximately the amount of power a horse can deliver. In contrast, Randall uses the horse to measure {{w|mass}} (of spacecraft themselves, and of the payload they carry).

The top pane of the comic shows the mass of various spacecraft, while the bottom shows the amount of pass they can deliver to {{w|low earth orbit}}. There are also several joke insertions. In the top, one is T-Rex. In the bottom, another is Pegasus (the payload capacity given as one Pegasus); this is a reference to both Pegasus {{w|Pegasus (rocket)|the rocket}} and Pegasus the {{w|Pegasus|mythical flying stallion}}. The bottom also gives the 1981 {{w|Oldsmobile}} as 4 horses; presumably, this is actually the number of horses the Oldsmobile could tow, rather than launch into low earth orbit.

There is an unlabeled launch vehicle below the H-11A near 2002. The unlabeled vehicle has a playload mass of 21 horses (8540 kg).

===Tables===
{|
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
|

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!colspan="4"|Spacecraft Mass
|-
!Spacecraft
!Launch Date ''{{w|ISO 8601}}''
!Mass (Horses)
!Mass (kg)
|-
|{{w|Sputnik 1|Sputnik}}
|1957-10-04
|2 Dogs
|83.6
|-
|{{w|Vanguard 1}}
|1958-03-17
|Squirrel
|1.47
|-
|{{w|Pioneer 5}}
|1960-03-11
|Large Dog
|43
|-
|{{w|Venera 1}}
|1961-02-12
|1
|643.5
|-
|{{w|Mariner 2}}
|1962-08-27
|3 Dogs
|202.8
|-
|Apollo
|
|67
|
|-
|{{w|Venera 7}}
|1970-08-17
|3
|1,180
|-
|{{w|Pioneer 10}}
|1972-03-03
|7 Dogs
|258.8
|-
|{{w|Skylab}}
|1973-05-14
|171
|77,088
|-
|{{w|Venera 9}}
|1975-06-08
|11
|2,015
|-
|{{w|Voyager 2}}
|1977-08-20
|2
|721.9
|-
|Shuttle (Total)
|
|206
|
|-
|Shuttle (Payload)
|
|54
|
|-
|{{w|Mir}}
|1986-02-20
|288
|129,700
|-
|T-Rex
|
|15
|6,800
|-
|{{w|Hubble}}
|1990-04-24
|25
|11,110
|-
|{{w|Compton Gamma Ray Observatory}}
|1991-04-05
|38
|17,000
|-
|{{w|Corona (Satellite)|Keyhole 3}}
|
|40
|
|-
|{{w|International Space Station}}
|1998
|932
|450,000
|-
|{{w|Cassini-Huygens|Cassini}}
|1997-10-15
|11
|5,300
|-
|{{w|Huygens (spacecraft)|Hyugens Lander}}
|1997-10-15
|1
|319
|-
|{{w|Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta}}
|2004-03-02
|6
|2,900
|-
|{{w|Opportunity (rover)|Opportunity}}
|2003-07-07
|5 Dogs
|185
|-
|{{w|Dawn (spacecraft)|Dawn}}
|2007-09-27
|3
|1,240
|-
|Terrastar
|
|15
|
|-
|{{w|Dragon (spacecraft)|Dragon}}
|2010-12-08
|17
|
|-
|{{w|Tiangong-1}}
|2011-09-29
|19
|8,506
|-
|{{w|Curiosity (rover)|Curiosity}}
|2011-11-26
|2
|900
|-
|{{w|Corona (Satellite)|Keyhole 7}}
|
|40
|
|-
|{{w|Orion (spacecraft)|Orion (Capsule)}}
|2014-12-05
|20
|8,913
|-
|{{w|James Webb Space Telescope|James Webb Telescope}}
|
|14
|6,200
|-
|{{w|Orion (spacecraft)|Orion}}
|2014-12-05
|65
|29,157
|-
|{{w|Orion (spacecraft)|Orion Service Module}}
|
|25
|13,337
|-
|{{w|Orion (spacecraft)|Orion Deep-Space Habitat}}
|
|
|
|}

|

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!colspan="4"|Lauch Vehicle Capacity
|-
!Spacecraft
!Launch Date ''{{w|ISO 8601}}''
!Payload (Horses)
!Payload (kg)
|-
|{{w|Sputnik (rocket)|Sputnik Launcher}}
|1957-10-04
|1
|500
|-
| Thor
|
|3 Dogs
|
|-
|Mercury-Atlas
|
|3
|
|-
|Saturn 1
|
|20
|
|-
|Proton-K
|
|44
|
|-
|Atlas-Centaur
|
|8 Centaurs
|
|-
|Titan IIIA
|
|7
|
|-
|Saturn 1B
|
|45
|
|-
|Soyuz
|
|14
|
|-
|Saturn V
|
|262
|
|-
|Black Arrow
|
|4 Dogs
|
|-
|N1
|
|211
|
|-
|Long March 1
|
|2
|
|-
|N-I
|
|4
|
|-
|Delta 0900
|
|3
|
|-
|Ariane 1
|
|3
|
|-
|SLV
|
|1 Dog
|
|-
|N-11
|
|4
|
|-
|1981 Oldsmobile
|1980
|4
|
|-
|ASLV
|
|4 Dogs
|
|-
|Long March 4
|
|9
|
|-
|Ariane 4
|
|16
|
|-
|Shavit
|
|6 Dogs
|
|-
|Energia
|
|218
|
|-
|Pegasus
|1990-04-05
|1 Pegasus
|443
|-
|Atlas I
|
|13
|
|-
|PSLV
|
|8
|
|-
|J-I
|
|2
|
|-
|Long March 3B
|
|27
|
|-
|H-IIA
|
|22
|
|-
|(unlabelled)
|
|21
|
|-
|Delta IV-H
|
|64
|
|-
|Falcon 1
|
|1
|
|-
|Ariane 5ES
|
|47
|
|-
|H-IIB
|
|37
|
|-
|UNHA
|
|2 Dogs
|
|-
|Atlas V 541
|
|38
|
|-
|Falcon 9
|
|29
|
|-
|Antares
|
|14
|
|-
|Stratolaunch
|
|14
|
|-
|Falcon Heavy
|
|118
|
|-
|SLS Block 1
|
|156
|
|-
|SLS Block 1B
|
|217
|
|-
|SLS Block 2
|
|289
|
|}

|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Space]]

1461: Payloads

2014-12-17T11:45:47Z

Jh6p: /* Tables */

{{comic
| number = 1461
| date = December 17, 2014
| title = Payloads
| image = payloads.png
| titletext = With a space elevator, a backyard full of solar panels could launch about 500 horses per year, and a large power plant could launch 10 horses per minute.
}}

A larger version of the image can be found [http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/payloads_large.png here].

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Still probably incomplete, but I don't know why. I just removed the "CREATED BY A BOT" message, because since then, it has been edited by a human.}}
This comic lists the payload capacity of several launch vehicles, and the mass of several spacecraft, in number of horses. This could be related to Randall's hobby of abusing dimensional analysis, as horses/ship is technically a perfectly acceptable derived unit, provided the size of a horse is standard (in this comic it appears that 'One Horse' is defined as 450kg). In cases where the mass is less than one Horse, an alternative measure of Dogs has been used, where one Dog appears to be roughly 40kg. In the case of {{w|Vanguard 1}}, even a Dog is too large a measure, so instead the unit Squirrel is used to represent its 1.47kg mass.

The overall comic is an allusion to {{w|horsepower}}, a similar-sounding but completely different concept. Horsepower is a measurement of {{w|power (physics)|power}} ({{w|work (physics)|work}} per unit time). Another commonly referenced unit for power is the {{w|watt}}. 1 horsepower is meant to be approximately the amount of power a horse can deliver. In contrast, Randall uses the horse to measure {{w|mass}} (of spacecraft themselves, and of the payload they carry).

The top pane of the comic shows the mass of various spacecraft, while the bottom shows the amount of pass they can deliver to {{w|low earth orbit}}. There are also several joke insertions. In the top, one is T-Rex. In the bottom, another is Pegasus (the payload capacity given as one Pegasus); this is a reference to both Pegasus {{w|Pegasus (rocket)|the rocket}} and Pegasus the {{w|Pegasus|mythical flying stallion}}. The bottom also gives the 1981 {{w|Oldsmobile}} as 4 horses; presumably, this is actually the number of horses the Oldsmobile could tow, rather than launch into low earth orbit.

There is an unlabeled launch vehicle below the H-11A near 2002. The unlabeled vehicle has a playload mass of 21 horses (8540 kg).

===Tables===
{|
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
|

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!colspan="4"|Spacecraft Mass
|-
!Spacecraft
!Launch Date ''{{w|ISO 8601}}''
!Mass (Horses)
!Mass (kg)
|-
|{{w|Sputnik 1|Sputnik}}
|1957-10-04
|2 Dogs
|83.6
|-
|{{w|Vanguard 1}}
|1958-03-17
|Squirrel
|1.47
|-
|{{w|Pioneer 5}}
|1960-03-11
|Large Dog
|43
|-
|{{w|Venera 1}}
|1961-02-12
|1
|643.5
|-
|{{w|Mariner 2}}
|1962-08-27
|3 Dogs
|202.8
|-
|Apollo
|
|67
|
|-
|{{w|Venera 7}}
|1970-08-17
|3
|1,180
|-
|{{w|Pioneer 10}}
|1972-03-03
|7 Dogs
|258.8
|-
|{{w|Skylab}}
|1973-05-14
|171
|77,088
|-
|{{w|Venera 9}}
|1975-06-08
|11
|2,015
|-
|{{w|Voyager 2}}
|1977-08-20
|2
|721.9
|-
|Shuttle (Total)
|
|206
|
|-
|Shuttle (Payload)
|
|54
|
|-
|{{w|Mir}}
|1986-02-20
|288
|129,700
|-
|T-Rex
|
|15
|6,800
|-
|{{w|Hubble}}
|1990-04-24
|25
|11,110
|-
|{{w|Compton Gamma Ray Observatory}}
|1991-04-05
|38
|17,000
|-
|{{w|Corona (Satellite)|Keyhole 3}}
|
|40
|
|-
|{{w|International Space Station}}
|1998
|932
|450,000
|-
|{{w|Cassini-Huygens|Cassini}}
|1997-10-15
|11
|5,300
|-
|{{w|Huygens (spacecraft)|Hyugens Lander}}
|1997-10-15
|1
|319
|-
|{{w|Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta}}
|2004-03-02
|6
|2,900
|-
|{{w|Opportunity (rover)|Opportunity}}
|2003-07-07
|5 Dogs
|185
|-
|{{w|Dawn (spacecraft)|Dawn}}
|2007-09-27
|3
|1,240
|-
|Terrastar
|
|15
|
|-
|{{w|Dragon (spacecraft)|Dragon}}
|2010-12-08
|17
|
|-
|{{w|Tiangong-1}}
|2011-09-29
|19
|8,506
|-
|{{w|Curiosity (rover)|Curiosity}}
|2011-11-26
|2
|900
|-
|{{w|Corona (Satellite)|Keyhole 7}}
|
|40
|
|-
|{{w|Orion (spacecraft)|Orion (Capsule)}}
|2014-12-05
|20
|8,913
|-
|{{w|James Webb Space Telescope|James Webb Telescope}}
|
|14
|6,200
|-
|{{w|Orion (spacecraft)|Orion}}
|2014-12-05
|65
|29,157
|-
|{{w|Orion (spacecraft)|Orion Service Module}}
|
|25
|13,337
|-
|{{w|Orion (spacecraft)|Orion Deep-Space Habitat}}
|
|
|
|}

|

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!colspan="4"|Lauch Vehicle Capacity
|-
!Spacecraft
!Launch Date ''{{w|ISO 8601}}''
!Payload (Horses)
!Payload (kg)
|-
|{{w|Sputnik (rocket)|Sputnik Launcher}}
|1957-10-04
|1
|500
|-
| Thor
|
|3 Dogs
|
|-
|Mercury-Atlas
|
|3
|
|-
|Saturn 1
|
|20
|
|-
|Proton-K
|
|44
|
|-
|Atlas-Centaur
|
|8 Centaurs
|
|-
|Titan IIIA
|
|7
|
|-
|Saturn 1B
|
|45
|
|-
|Soyuz
|
|14
|
|-
|Saturn V
|
|262
|
|-
|Black Arrow
|
|4 Dogs
|
|-
|N1
|
|211
|
|-
|Long March 1
|
|2
|
|-
|N-I
|
|4
|
|-
|Delta 0900
|
|3
|
|-
|Ariane 1
|
|3
|
|-
|SLV
|
|1 Dog
|
|-
|N-11
|
|4
|
|-
|1981 Oldsmobile
|1980
|4
|
|-
|ASLV
|
|4 Dogs
|
|-
|Long March 4
|
|9
|
|-
|Ariane 4
|
|16
|
|-
|Shavit
|
|6 Dogs
|
|-
|Energia
|
|218
|
|-
|Pegasus
|1990-04-05
|1 Pegasus
|443
|-
|Atlas I
|
|13
|
|-
|PSLV
|
|8
|
|-
|J-I
|
|2
|
|-
|Long March 3B
|
|27
|
|-
|H-IIA
|
|22
|
|-
|(unlabelled)
|
|21
|
|-
|Delta IV-H
|
|64
|
|-
|Falcon 1
|
|1
|
|-
|Ariane 5ES
|
|47
|
|-
|H-IIB
|
|37
|
|-
|UNHA
|
|2 Dogs
|
|-
|Atlas V 541
|
|38
|
|-
|Falcon 9
|
|29
|
|-
|Antares
|
|14
|
|-
|Stratolaunch
|
|14
|
|-
|Falcon Heavy
|
|118
|
|-
|SLS Block 1
|
|156
|
|-
|SLS Block 1B
|
|217
|
|-
|SLS Block 2
|
|289
|
|}

|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Space]]

1461: Payloads

2014-12-17T11:33:37Z

Jh6p:

{{comic
| number = 1461
| date = December 17, 2014
| title = Payloads
| image = payloads.png
| titletext = With a space elevator, a backyard full of solar panels could launch about 500 horses per year, and a large power plant could launch 10 horses per minute.
}}

A larger version of the image can be found [http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/payloads_large.png here].

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Still probably incomplete, but I don't know why. I just removed the "CREATED BY A BOT" message, because since then, it has been edited by a human.}}
This comic lists the payload capacity of several launch vehicles, and the mass of several spacecraft, in number of horses. This could be related to Randall's hobby of abusing dimensional analysis, as horses/ship is technically a perfectly acceptable derived unit, provided the size of a horse is standard (in this comic it appears that 'One Horse' is defined as 450kg). In cases where the mass is less than one Horse, an alternative measure of Dogs has been used, where one Dog appears to be roughly 40kg. In the case of {{w|Vanguard 1}}, even a Dog is too large a measure, so instead the unit Squirrel is used to represent its 1.47kg mass.

The overall comic is an allusion to {{w|horsepower}}, a similar-sounding but completely different concept. Horsepower is a measurement of {{w|power (physics)|power}} ({{w|work (physics)|work}} per unit time). Another commonly referenced unit for power is the {{w|watt}}. 1 horsepower is meant to be approximately the amount of power a horse can deliver. In contrast, Randall uses the horse to measure {{w|mass}} (of spacecraft themselves, and of the payload they carry).

The top pane of the comic shows the mass of various spacecraft, while the bottom shows the amount of pass they can deliver to {{w|low earth orbit}}. There are also several joke insertions. In the top, one is T-Rex. In the bottom, another is Pegasus (the payload capacity given as one Pegasus); this is a reference to both Pegasus {{w|Pegasus (rocket)|the rocket}} and Pegasus the {{w|Pegasus|mythical flying stallion}}. The bottom also gives the 1981 {{w|Oldsmobile}} as 4 horses; presumably, this is actually the number of horses the Oldsmobile could tow, rather than launch into low earth orbit.

There is an unlabeled launch vehicle below the H-11A near 2002. The unlabeled vehicle has a playload mass of 21 horses (8540 kg).
===Tables===
{|
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
|

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!colspan="4"|Spacecraft Mass
|-
!Spacecraft
!Launch Date ''{{w|ISO 8601}}''
!Mass (Horses)
!Mass (kg)
|-
|{{w|Sputnik 1|Sputnik}}
|1957-10-04
|2 Dogs
|83.6
|-
|{{w|Vanguard 1}}
|1958-03-17
|Squirrel
|1.47
|-
|{{w|Pioneer 5}}
|1960-03-11
|Large Dog
|43
|-
|{{w|Venera 1}}
|1961-02-12
|1
|643.5
|-
|{{w|Mariner 2}}
|1962-08-27
|3 Dogs
|202.8
|-
|Apollo
|
|67
|
|-
|{{w|Venera 7}}
|1970-08-17
|3
|1,180
|-
|{{w|Pioneer 10}}
|1972-03-03
|7 Dogs
|258.8
|-
|{{w|Skylab}}
|1973-05-14
|171
|77,088
|-
|{{w|Venera 9}}
|1975-06-08
|11
|2,015
|-
|{{w|Voyager 2}}
|1977-08-20
|2
|721.9
|-
|Shuttle (Total)
|
|206
|
|-
|Shuttle (Payload)
|
|54
|
|-
|{{w|Mir}}
|1986-02-20
|288
|129,700
|-
|T-Rex
|
|15
|6,800
|-
|{{w|Hubble}}
|1990-04-24
|25
|11,110
|-
|{{w|Compton Gamma Ray Observatory}}
|1991-04-05
|38
|17,000
|-
|{{w|Corona (Satellite)|Keyhole 3}}
|
|40
|
|-
|{{w|International Space Station}}
|1998
|932
|450,000
|-
|{{w|Cassini-Huygens|Cassini}}
|1997-10-15
|11
|5,300
|-
|{{w|Huygens (spacecraft)|Hyugens Lander}}
|1997-10-15
|1
|319
|-
|{{w|Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta}}
|2004-03-02
|6
|2,900
|-
|{{w|Opportunity (rover)|Opportunity}}
|2003-07-07
|5 Dogs
|185
|-
|{{w|Dawn (spacecraft)|Dawn}}
|2007-09-27
|3
|1,240
|-
|Terrastar
|
|15
|
|-
|{{w|Dragon (spacecraft)|Dragon}}
|2010-12-08
|17
|
|-
|{{w|Tiangong-1}}
|2011-09-29
|19
|8,506
|-
|{{w|Curiosity (rover)|Curiosity}}
|2011-11-26
|2
|900
|-
|{{w|Corona (Satellite)|Keyhole 7}}
|
|40
|
|-
|{{w|Orion (spacecraft)|Orion (Capsule)}}
|2014-12-05
|20
|8,913
|-
|{{w|James Webb Space Telescope|James Webb Telescope}}
|
|14
|6,200
|-
|{{w|Orion (spacecraft)|Orion}}
|2014-12-05
|65
|29,157
|-
|{{w|Orion (spacecraft)|Orion Service Module}}
|
|25
|13,337
|-
|{{w|Orion (spacecraft)|Orion Deep-Space Habitat}}
|
|
|
|}

|

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!colspan="4"|Lauch Vehicle Capacity
|-
!Spacecraft
!Launch Date ''{{w|ISO 8601}}''
!Payload (Horses)
!Payload (kg)
|-
|{{w|Sputnik (rocket)|Sputnik Launcher}}
|4 October 1957
|1.11
|500
|-
|{{w|Pegasus(rocket)|Pegasus}}
|1990-04-05
|0.98
|443
|}

|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Space]]

1461: Payloads

2014-12-17T11:25:52Z

Jh6p:

{{comic
| number = 1461
| date = December 17, 2014
| title = Payloads
| image = payloads.png
| titletext = With a space elevator, a backyard full of solar panels could launch about 500 horses per year, and a large power plant could launch 10 horses per minute.
}}

A larger version of the image can be found [http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/payloads_large.png here].

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Still probably incomplete, but I don't know why. I just removed the "CREATED BY A BOT" message, because since then, it has been edited by a human.}}
This comic lists the payload capacity of several launch vehicles, and the mass of several spacecraft, in number of horses. This could be related to Randall's hobby of abusing dimensional analysis, as horses/ship is technically a perfectly acceptable derived unit, provided the size of a horse is standard (in this comic it appears that 'One Horse' is defined as 450kg). In cases where the mass is less than one Horse, an alternative measure of Dogs has been used, where one Dog appears to be roughly 40kg. In the case of {{w|Vanguard 1}}, even a Dog is too large a measure, so instead the unit Squirrel is used to represent its 1.47kg mass.

The overall comic is an allusion to {{w|horsepower}}, a similar-sounding but completely different concept. Horsepower is a measurement of {{w|power (physics)|power}} ({{w|work (physics)|work}} per unit time). Another commonly referenced unit for power is the {{w|watt}}. 1 horsepower is meant to be approximately the amount of power a horse can deliver. In contrast, Randall uses the horse to measure {{w|mass}} (of spacecraft themselves, and of the payload they carry).

The top pane of the comic shows the mass of various spacecraft, while the bottom shows the amount of pass they can deliver to {{w|low earth orbit}}. There are also several joke insertions. In the top, one is T-Rex. In the bottom, another is Pegasus (the payload capacity given as one Pegasus); this is a reference to both Pegasus {{w|Pegasus (rocket)|the rocket}} and Pegasus the {{w|Pegasus|mythical flying stallion}}. The bottom also gives the 1981 {{w|Oldsmobile}} as 4 horses; presumably, this is actually the number of horses the Oldsmobile could tow, rather than launch into low earth orbit.

There is an unlabeled launch vehicle below the H-11A near 2002. The unlabeled vehicle has a playload mass of 21 horses (8540 kg).
===Tables===
{|
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
|

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!colspan="4"|Spacecraft Mass
|-
!Spacecraft
!Launch Date ''{{w|ISO 8601}}''
!Mass (Horses)
!Mass (kg)
|-
|{{w|Sputnik 1|Sputnik}}
|1957-10-04
|2 Dogs
|83.6
|-
|{{w|Vanguard 1}}
|1958-03-17
|Squirrel
|1.47
|-
|{{w|Pioneer 5}}
|1960-03-11
|Large Dog
|43
|-
|{{w|Venera 1}}
|1961-02-12
|1
|643.5
|-
|{{w|Mariner 2}}
|1962-08-27
|3 Dogs
|202.8
|-
|Apollo
|
|67
|
|-
|{{w|Venera 7}}
|1970-08-17
|3
|1,180
|-
|{{w|Pioneer 10}}
|1972-03-03
|7 Dogs
|258.8
|-
|{{w|Skylab}}
|1973-05-14
|171
|77,088
|-
|{{w|Venera 9}}
|1975-06-08
|11
|2,015
|-
|{{w|Voyager 2}}
|1977-08-20
|2
|721.9
|-
|Shuttle (Total)
|
|206
|
|-
|Shuttle (Payload)
|
|54
|
|-
|{{w|Mir}}
|1986-02-20
|288
|129,700
|-
|T-Rex
|
|15
|6,800
|-
|{{w|Hubble}}
|1990-04-24
|25
|11,110
|-
|{{w|Compton Gamma Ray Observatory}}
|1991-04-05
|38
|17,000
|-
|{{w|Corona (Satellite)|Keyhole 3}}
|
|40
|
|-
|{{w|International Space Station}}
|1998
|932
|450,000
|-
|{{w|Cassini-Huygens|Cassini}}
|1997-10-15
|11
|5,300
|-
|{{w|Huygens (spacecraft)|Hyugens Lander}}
|1997-10-15
|1
|319
|-
|{{w|Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta}}
|2004-03-02
|6
|2,900
|-
|{{w|Opportunity (rover)|Opportunity}}
|2003-07-07
|5 Dogs
|185
|-
|{{w|Dawn (spacecraft)|Dawn}}
|2007-09-27
|3
|1,240
|-
|Terrastar
|
|15
|
|-
|{{w|Dragon (spacecraft)|Dragon}}
|2010-12-08
|17
|
|-
|{{w|Tiangong-1}}
|2011-09-29
|19
|8,506
|-
|{{w|Curiosity (rover)|Curiosity}}
|2011-11-26
|2
|900
|-
|{{w|Corona (Satellite)|Keyhole 7}}
|
|40
|
|-
|{{w|Orion (spacecraft)|Orion (Capsule)}}
|2014-12-05
|20
|8,913
|-
|{{w|James Webb Space Telescope|James Webb Telescope}}
|
|14
|6,200
|-
|{{w|Orion (spacecraft)|Orion}}
|2014-12-05
|65
|29,157
|-
|{{w|Orion (spacecraft)|Orion Service Module}}
|
|25
|13,337
|-
|{{w|Orion (spacecraft)|Orion Deep-Space Habitat}}
|
|
|
|}

|

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!colspan="4"|Lauch Vehicle Capacity
|-
!Spacecraft
!Launch Date ''{{w|ISO 8601}}''
!Payload (Horses)
!Payload (kg)
|-
|{{w|Sputnik (rocket)|Sputnik Launcher}}
|4 October 1957
|1
|500
|}

|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Space]]

1461: Payloads

2014-12-17T11:25:04Z

Jh6p:

{{comic
| number = 1461
| date = December 17, 2014
| title = Payloads
| image = payloads.png
| titletext = With a space elevator, a backyard full of solar panels could launch about 500 horses per year, and a large power plant could launch 10 horses per minute.
}}

A larger version of the image can be found [http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/payloads_large.png here].

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Still probably incomplete, but I don't know why. I just removed the "CREATED BY A BOT" message, because since then, it has been edited by a human.}}
This comic lists the payload capacity of several launch vehicles, and the mass of several spacecraft, in number of horses. This could be related to Randall's hobby of abusing dimensional analysis, as horses/ship is technically a perfectly acceptable derived unit, provided the size of a horse is standard (in this comic it appears that 'One Horse' is defined as 450kg). In cases where the mass is less than one Horse, an alternative measure of Dogs has been used, where one Dog appears to be roughly 40kg. In the case of {{w|Vanguard 1}}, even a Dog is too large a measure, so instead the unit Squirrel is used to represent its 1.47kg mass.

The overall comic is an allusion to {{w|horsepower}}, a similar-sounding but completely different concept. Horsepower is a measurement of {{w|power (physics)|power}} ({{w|work (physics)|work}} per unit time). Another commonly referenced unit for power is the {{w|watt}}. 1 horsepower is meant to be approximately the amount of power a horse can deliver. In contrast, Randall uses the horse to measure {{w|mass}} (of spacecraft themselves, and of the payload they carry).

The top pane of the comic shows the mass of various spacecraft, while the bottom shows the amount of pass they can deliver to {{w|low earth orbit}}. There are also several joke insertions. In the top, one is T-Rex. In the bottom, another is Pegasus (the payload capacity given as one Pegasus); this is a reference to both Pegasus {{w|Pegasus (rocket)|the rocket}} and Pegasus the {{w|Pegasus|mythical flying stallion}}. The bottom also gives the 1981 {{w|Oldsmobile}} as 4 horses; presumably, this is actually the number of horses the Oldsmobile could tow, rather than launch into low earth orbit.

There is an unlabeled launch vehicle below the H-11A in the center of the image. The unlabeled vehicle has a playload mass of 21 horses (8540 kg).
===Tables===
{|
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
|

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!colspan="4"|Spacecraft Mass
|-
!Spacecraft
!Launch Date ''{{w|ISO 8601}}''
!Mass (Horses)
!Mass (kg)
|-
|{{w|Sputnik 1|Sputnik}}
|1957-10-04
|2 Dogs
|83.6
|-
|{{w|Vanguard 1}}
|1958-03-17
|Squirrel
|1.47
|-
|{{w|Pioneer 5}}
|1960-03-11
|Large Dog
|43
|-
|{{w|Venera 1}}
|1961-02-12
|1
|643.5
|-
|{{w|Mariner 2}}
|1962-08-27
|3 Dogs
|202.8
|-
|Apollo
|
|67
|
|-
|{{w|Venera 7}}
|1970-08-17
|3
|1,180
|-
|{{w|Pioneer 10}}
|1972-03-03
|7 Dogs
|258.8
|-
|{{w|Skylab}}
|1973-05-14
|171
|77,088
|-
|{{w|Venera 9}}
|1975-06-08
|11
|2,015
|-
|{{w|Voyager 2}}
|1977-08-20
|2
|721.9
|-
|Shuttle (Total)
|
|206
|
|-
|Shuttle (Payload)
|
|54
|
|-
|{{w|Mir}}
|1986-02-20
|288
|129,700
|-
|T-Rex
|
|15
|6,800
|-
|{{w|Hubble}}
|1990-04-24
|25
|11,110
|-
|{{w|Compton Gamma Ray Observatory}}
|1991-04-05
|38
|17,000
|-
|{{w|Corona (Satellite)|Keyhole 3}}
|
|40
|
|-
|{{w|International Space Station}}
|1998
|932
|450,000
|-
|{{w|Cassini-Huygens|Cassini}}
|1997-10-15
|11
|5,300
|-
|{{w|Huygens (spacecraft)|Hyugens Lander}}
|1997-10-15
|1
|319
|-
|{{w|Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta}}
|2004-03-02
|6
|2,900
|-
|{{w|Opportunity (rover)|Opportunity}}
|2003-07-07
|5 Dogs
|185
|-
|{{w|Dawn (spacecraft)|Dawn}}
|2007-09-27
|3
|1,240
|-
|Terrastar
|
|15
|
|-
|{{w|Dragon (spacecraft)|Dragon}}
|2010-12-08
|17
|
|-
|{{w|Tiangong-1}}
|2011-09-29
|19
|8,506
|-
|{{w|Curiosity (rover)|Curiosity}}
|2011-11-26
|2
|900
|-
|{{w|Corona (Satellite)|Keyhole 7}}
|
|40
|
|-
|{{w|Orion (spacecraft)|Orion (Capsule)}}
|2014-12-05
|20
|8,913
|-
|{{w|James Webb Space Telescope|James Webb Telescope}}
|
|14
|6,200
|-
|{{w|Orion (spacecraft)|Orion}}
|2014-12-05
|65
|29,157
|-
|{{w|Orion (spacecraft)|Orion Service Module}}
|
|25
|13,337
|-
|{{w|Orion (spacecraft)|Orion Deep-Space Habitat}}
|
|
|
|}

|

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!colspan="4"|Lauch Vehicle Capacity
|-
!Spacecraft
!Launch Date ''{{w|ISO 8601}}''
!Payload (Horses)
!Payload (kg)
|-
|{{w|Sputnik (rocket)|Sputnik Launcher}}
|4 October 1957
|1
|500
|}

|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Space]]

1260: LD50

2013-09-04T10:44:01Z

Jh6p:

{{comic
| number = 1260
| date = September 4, 2013
| title = LD50
| image = ld50.png
| titletext = The dose is much lower when administered orally. We're still trying to get the paper into the needles for subcutaneous injection.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}
{{w|Median lethal dose|LD50}}, mentioned in the comic, is a term used in toxicology, referring to the median lethal dose, or how much of a given toxin is required to kill half of a given population. The comic is making the joke that it takes 2 kilograms of papers on toxicology to kill a person for each kg he/she weighs. The average weight of a person on earth is approximately 62 kg, so that would be 124 kg/273 pounds of toxicology papers. As the alt text says, it will take less paper to kill a person if the paper is shoved down their throat instead of dropped on them. The third dosage usually listed is for intravenous injection, but that number is omitted since they couldn't figure out how to do it.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball wearing lab coats stand by and observe a person lying under a pile of papers.]
:The LD50 of toxicity data is 2 kilograms per kilogram.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]

Talk:730: Circuit Diagram

2013-04-10T11:13:18Z

Jh6p:

So, is the arena a new kind of comparator or something? '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:28, 18 February 2013 (UTC)

11:13, 10 April 2013 (UTC)11:13, 10 April 2013 (UTC)[[User:Jh6p|Jh6p]] ([[User talk:Jh6p|talk]])
The 3 liter capacitor could also be a ball approximately 6 inches in diameter if the seams on the ball were similar to the seams on a basketball. Perhaps a volleyball?